Haematological and pathomorphological studies on chickens inoculated with transformation-defective sarcoma virus.

A transformation-defective mutant of Rous sarcoma virus (td PR-RSV-C) inoculated into chicken embryos caused a number of pathological changes in chickens after hatching. Disturbances in haematopoiesis were manifested by anaemia of different degree and by the presence of immature blood elements in the peripheral blood. The haematological picture of erythroblastosis was confirmed histologically. In addition to erythroblastosis, lymphoid leukosis and a proliferative lymphosarcoma-like tumour were demonstrated histologically.